NSA contractor accused of taking classified government data

Associated Press

Published 3:04 pm, Wednesday, October 5, 2016

WASHINGTON — The FBI secretly arrested a National Security Agency contractor in recent weeks and is investigating whether he stole and disclosed highly classified computer code developed to hack into the networks of foreign governments, according to several senior law enforcement and intelligence officials.

The theft raises the embarrassing prospect that for the second time in three years, an insider has managed to steal highly damaging secret information from the NSA. In 2013, Edward Snowden, who was also a contractor for the agency, took a vast trove of documents that were later passed to journalists, exposing NSA surveillance programs in the United States and abroad.

The contractor was identified as Harold Martin III, 51, of Glen Burnie, Md., according to a criminal complaint filed in late August. He was charged with theft of government property, and unauthorized removal or retention of classified documents. During an FBI raid of his house, agents seized documents and digital information stored on electronic devices. A large percentage of the materials found in his house and car allegedly contained highly classified information.

At the time, FBI agents interviewed Martin, and he initially denied having taken the documents and digital files. The agency later said he had stated that he knew he was not authorized to have the materials. According to the complaint, he told the agency that “he knew what he had done was wrong and that he should not have done it because he knew it was unauthorized.”

In a brief statement issued Wednesday, lawyers for Martin said: “We have not seen any evidence. But what we know is that Hal Martin loves his family and his country. There is no evidence that he intended to betray his country.”

The information believed stolen by Martin — who like Snowden worked for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which is responsible for building and operating many of the agency’s most sensitive cyber-operations — appears to be different in nature from Snowden’s theft.

Martin is suspected of taking the highly classified computer code developed by the agency to break into computer systems of adversaries like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

Martin’s arrest is also potentially devastating for Booz Allen, which has built much of its business on providing highly technical services to the NSA and other intelligence agencies.